Next to be seen reprising his role of Ben Gates in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets", Cage is said to take the departure because of scheduling issues. The Oscar-winning actor actually was supposed to play the young Al Capone in the project, which will detail the man's early dealings with Irish cop Jim Malone.

With Cage's absence, pic thereby only has "300" star Gerard Butler in the cast list for this time being. The Scottish thesp has already been billed to portray Malone, a role played by Sean Connery in 1987's "The Untouchables", with Brian De Palma directing from script by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and David Rabe.